


Anything

by uxseven (ignemferam)



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Episode Tag, Established Relationship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-14
Updated: 2012-11-14
Packaged: 2017-11-18 15:10:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,265
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/562411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ignemferam/pseuds/uxseven
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Loss is never easy. Near miss, unfortunately, is not much easier.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Anything

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** The characters are not mine and I do not make profits of any sort by writing what my active imagination has come up with.
> 
>  **Spoilers:** Episode 3.06 _I Ka Wa Mamua_
> 
>  **Author's Note:**  
>  \- Unbeta'd, all errors are my own.  
> \- It was an emotional episode, which got the muse talking. So here's my coda to 3.06.  
> \- All feedbacks are loved.

Flip.

Flip. Then flip again.

His hand halts in mid-flip. He does not do nervous but the mindless, subconscious flipping of his phone on the seat says differently.

It is almost ten. Considering Grace's age and the common bedtime of kids her age, the father-daughter dance should have ended and Danny should be home. If not yet, soon.

It will not surprise Steve if Danny decides to spend a little more time with Grace after the day he has.

Danny is obviously shaken by the day's events. Steve knows he is himself, despite all his coping mechanism for losing comrades. Loss is never easy. Near miss, unfortunately, is not much easier. Especially when it is someone so close.

Especially when the said someone is Danny.

Going home to sleep is not an option. Not until Steve has confirmation that Danny is safely back in his shitty apartment.

So Steve sits, patiently, in his truck, outside Danny's apartment complex waiting for the Camaro to return to its nightly parking spot.

Time - a lot of time - is the only possible way to ease the ruffled emotions. Though it may not soothe Steve's nerves, Danny safe and sound at home is a good place to start.

. . . . . .

At the approach of the Camaro engine's low roaring, the tension in Steve's body seems to ebb away slightly. Once the car has slowed to a stop, he can see his partner easing out of it a little unsteadily.

 _"He must be bone-tired."_ Steve thinks.

His own exhaustion courses through his veins. Imminent is the inevitable adrenaline crash. Thankfully he can now have a little peace of mind and head home for an undoubtedly restless night of sleep.

Closing his eyes for a moment, he slowly draws in a deep breath. When he opens them again, Danny is standing with hands on hips a few yards in front of his Silverado.

Caught in the act. Instincts tell Steve this will not go over well with Danny. Unfortunately there really is not much he can do except for stepping out of his truck to face the firing squad of one. In spite of his good intentions, Danny is not a man who appreciates the handholding.

"So, you're now my stalker?" Danny starts before Steve stops in front of him. The street lamp behind Danny casts his face in shadows. But Steve doesn't need to see Danny's expressions. From the tone alone, he can easily tell Danny is trying to rein in his anger.

Steve's lips has barely parted for a response when Danny points his trigger finger at him.

"I know you're worried. I get that and I really appreciate it," sighing, he runs his fingers through his hair out of habit. "But I'm fine. Unlike you, who always claims to be regardless of how serious your injuries are, I don't even have a scratch on me. There's no need for you to play protective service secret ninja."

Taking the pause as cue, Steve tries to get a word in but is cut off once again before he can mutter a word.

"However, with the risk of sounding ungrateful of you risking yourself to keep my mind off the bomb, I'm angry, Steven." Unable to see his partner's face, Steve can only estimates Danny's level of anger by his voice. The tiny suppressed tremor in the superficially forced calm is hard to miss.

"What the hell were you thinking to stick around when there might be a chance the bomb couldn't be disarmed, huh? Do you think it'd be okay to have your death on my head?" Danny sounds raw with emotions but still trying to keep the volume in check, obviously in an effort not to draw attentions to the otherwise quiet parking lot of the complex. There is no characteristic hand waving. Instead his are arms crossed in front of his chest, as if hugging himself.

Steve wants to say no. It was not his intention. He wanted to be positive for Danny in a dire situation. He wanted to be by Danny's side no matter the danger they are facing. He would be there for Danny, even if it means meeting his own end. He would gladly share the burden that is the responsibility Danny has been carrying around for eleven years. He would stop at nothing for Danny. Danny should know that. Danny needs to know that.

Danny needs to know nothing is more important to Steve, than Danny. That he would do anything for him.

The words are there waiting to be spoken but Steve's vocal cord seems to have seized. What he wants to say gets jammed inside unable to get out.

Steve is desperate. He loathes feeling desperate.

He laughs internally at himself, what his face may look like at the moment. Danny will give it a name. 'Ruefully constipated face #4', perhaps.

Danny is probably taking in his face and instinctively understands, like he always does, because he steps closer uncrossing his arms and lays a hand on Steve's bicep. The warmth from Danny's palm seeps under Steve's skin and spreads, making him shiver. And when Danny speaks again, his voice softens.

"It's your default to be selfless, Steve, but it isn't your fault. In fact, it's one of your more redeeming qualities. On the other hand, I'm not. I was being completely selfish to not want you to die and it wasn't about having your death on my head. I needed you to be alive to take care of Grace. It was -- is, and always will be, the most important thing for me. If I couldn't, for any reason, I need to know you would be. And you... you're..."

Steve hears a sigh as Danny moves further out of the shadows and into his personal space. The crow's-feet on Danny make him look aged and defeated, nothing like when accompanied by his bright smiles. Pleading is in his eyes, almost begging, for Steve to see from his point of view. Steve remembers a similar look in various parents' eyes while pulling their children behind their bodies to shield them from the soldiers. The silent scream for mercy of their children.

To see something like that on Danny, it shatters Steve's heart.

"I'm sorry, Danny." Was all Steve can get out before wrapping his arms around Danny. Instead of hugging back, Danny's exhaustion is catching up and he simply sags against Steve like all the fight has evaporated from his person.

"Just promise me, don't sacrifice yourself for me. Save yourself for Grace. Please." It comes out as barely a whisper against Steve's chest.

"But Stan --"

"Stan is Stan. You are you. I trust Stan to take care of Grace's material needs. You I trust for loving Grace. Grace needs a constant, a connection to her father."

Steve will be anything for the man that he loves. There really is no other thing he can say.

"Promise."

If that single word comes out choked, it is only because he cannot imagine life without Danny.

"Thank you." Hope and assurance apparently puts back some strength into Danny. He puts his hands on Steve's hips and straightens slightly, tilting his head back and up to press his lips into Steve's. "Thank you."

The kiss was brief and chaste, but exactly what Steve has needed since the bomb was defused. The perfect reminder that his Danny is alive. It is enough, for now.

"Let's get you some rest, Danno," says Steve, turning their bodies gently towards the direction of Danny's place.

Danny clings tighter. "Stay?"

"Anything you say."


End file.
